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A novel density control device for the study of cancer cell autocrine effect

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel cell self-loading and patterning device for quantitatively study density effect on cell behaviors. Using this device, it is easy to gather different cell density colonies in different sizes of micro-chambers using one homogeneous cell solution. As a demonstration, we show that the cell number of self-patterning MCF-7 colony is in proportion to the size of liquid-absorbing cavity in the device, from single cell to tens of cells. This device can easily be used to compare the cancer cells’ proliferation in different micro-environments, such as the same number of cells in micro-cavities with different sizes, or different numbers of cells in micro-cavities with the same size, or with different FBS concentrations. Our studies imply a plausible positive correlation between the local concentration of autocrine factors and tumor cell proliferation, which is also quantitative analyzed by a simple model.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank X.J Kang for helpful discussions. This work is partially supported by the NSF of China (10721403, 11074009, 10721463, 11174012), the MOST of China (2009CB918500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructures and Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Yang, Chunxiong Luo & Qi Ouyang

  2. Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Yang, Zhaojun Li, Chunxiong Luo & Qi Ouyang

  3. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Weilin Zhang & Qi Ouyang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Gen Yang & Yugang Wang

Authors
  1. Wei Yang
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  2. Zhaojun Li
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  3. Weilin Zhang
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  4. Chunxiong Luo
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  5. Qi Ouyang
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  6. Gen Yang
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  7. Yugang Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chunxiong Luo or Qi Ouyang.

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Yang, W., Li, Z., Zhang, W. et al. A novel density control device for the study of cancer cell autocrine effect. Biomed Microdevices 15, 683–689 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-013-9783-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-013-9783-7

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